Pat Rizzo looked out at the crowd of more than 300 people attending a celebration of life for his friend, Steve Madaio, in a ballroom at the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort in Palm Desert and quipped, "I wish we had this audience when he played."

Madaio, 70, was one of the most prolific sidemen in rock history as a trumpeter for the likes of Stevie Wonder, the Rolling Stones, John Lennon, Bob Dylan and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, to name just a few colleagues. He died of a heart attack Jan. 15 at his Palm Desert home. His friend and business partner, Jimi FITZ Fitzgerald gathered many of his fellow sidemen for a musical tribute that was one of the best in the desert since Madaio played the McCallum Theatre in 2017 with Fitz and Friends.

Guitarist John Carey playing Madaio's signature song, "Europa," as Carlos Santana wrote it, but as Madaio felt it. So glad Carey is still with us after a bout with cancer.

A Madaio All-Star Band playing the Stevie Wonder songs "Superstition," "I Wish" and "Sir Duke" with Madaio's horn arrangements, reminding us that the horns were as key to those '70s classics as Wonder's vocals. Impassioned solos by trumpeter Chuck Findley and saxophonist Tom Saviano on "Sir Duke" made their version better than the original. Barry Minniefield and Horace Miller substituted for Wonder on vocals quite nicely.

George Pajon, guitarist for the Black Eyed Peas, and a Grammy Award-winning writer on "Where Is the Love" and "Let's Get It Started" saying, "Steve mentored me. I wouldn't be the man I am without him." Madaio's first lesson for Pajon: calling him "terrible."

Findley saying how touring with drummer Buddy Rich at 18 changed his life, and playing with Madaio changed his life again because it inspired him to play with freedom. Findley, as prolific in the studio as Madaio, substituted for his friend on "Desert Sunset," the song Madaio played with Fitz at the McCallum, and they sounded like brothers.

Pianist Tad Sisler relating the stories of Madaio's life that he recorded for a book. The best anecdote: Madaio was recording with Prince and was told not to look directly at the Purple One. Madaio ignored that and asked him, "What do you want me to play?" An assistant, freaked, imploring, "No, no, no! You can't look him in the eye!" Madaio looked at him again, Sisler said, and told him, "With all due respect, you're a prince, not a king."